VN September 2020

Vetnuus | September 2020 38 From Haifa down the coast towards the South, the azure blue Mediterranean spread out like a blue carpet disappearing to the horizon, till we drove into the historical, biblical town, Caesarea. Beautiful old harbour and Crusader fortress. In 1972 Caesarea was not a big town, but it boasted the only golf course in the whole of Israel. The only golfers among us, Ian (Cruickshank) and I, were invited to play 18 holes with two hosts. They proudly boasted that the course had been built with finance from Rothschild, the great financier from New York. When we had finished our rounds the club professional welcomed us and sportingly invited me to use Rothschild’s bag rack, which was bag rack no 1, in future whenever I should be in town (if he wasn’t using it that day). He gave me a plastic token to make it official. I still have the token for the fun of it. Our stay in Israel ended in Tel Aviv, the biggest and most modern city in Israel. My host could not accommodate me in his flat, so I stayed with his elderly mother Miriam Kathien, who unfortunately could only speak German, so I spent the next few days in silence while I was at her home, while she spent much of her time in her bedroom. My host was great fun and through him we were able to visit the Israeli Diamond Exchange, one of only three in the world at that time, because he worked there. The Diamond Exchange was housed in a multi-story building on about the 12 th floor. The security was obviously at a peak and visitors not welcome. The actual exchange was on a large open floor. The sellers were arranged around the room at tables where they could display their wares. The diamonds were always sold in packets containing a number of similar stones, so the seller would have his pile of packets filledwith uncut diamonds. He would have one packet open to display what he was selling. There were diamonds from all over the world, alluvial diamonds from Africa, and all sorts and shapes and sizes of these magnificent stones. As I wandered around, I was struck by how different the various stones looked, depending on their source. Obviously, there was also a great variation in the size too. It was rather an eerie feeling to be surrounded by all this wealth, literally thousands of the most precious gems in the world. The potential buyers would then come and sit on the opposite side of the table and examine the stones from the open packet. This was not just a casual glance. Much peering through magnified glass etc first went into it. Then the two would haggle over the price if the potential buyer were still interested. It could have been a farmer’s market but for the value of the merchandise. After leaving the floor we are taken down to our host’s office. He was a diamond-cutter by profession so he could give us a fascinating explanation on the skill and practice of diamond cutting, especially in the case of large valuable stones. The main street in Tel Aviv, Dizengoff St was a broad boulevard, lined with sidewalk coffee shops and cafes. The rhythm of life in Tel Aviv, was very much Mediterranean. Businesses closed between 1 and 3 or 4 in the afternoon for everyone to go home for a siesta. After 4 the city came alive again and shops stayed open till 8 or 9 in the evening. If you were invited to dinner you would not think of going before 10 pm. One of the favourite occupations was to sit at a coffee shop on Dizengoff for several hours over no more than a coffee or two. While sitting there, passing the time, it was an opportunity to watch all the people passing by, especially the young ladies and there was a popular expression for this: they spoke of “rinsing your eyes on Dizengoff”. The old port of Jaffa, which features in the bible as the place where Peter had an important vision, lay at the edge of the city and they were restoring many buildings there. We were able to stroll along next to the sea to see it. Today it seems to be part of a large flourishing suburb of Tel Aviv. We were fascinated by one building where they had excavated under the old building and built a small theatre. We had an open evening, so we decided to go to a musical there, featuring Israel’s most popular female artist. The experience was most memorable, but for the wrong reasons. Recollections 36: Of golf, beer and more Ian du Toit